The Life We Lead
by NCISgirl1527
Summary: Charlie and Briggs talk about Mike, Graceland, life in general, and what brought them to where they are. Set at the end of Pizza Box. Please read.


_**I started this two weeks ago, but wanted to get it posted before the new episode aired…hope you like it…first time I've really done Briggs.**_

_**Disclaimer: Not mine.**_

_**Spoilers: Pizza Box**_

"How's Mike doing?" Charlie asked walking over to stand beside Briggs who was on his balcony looking out over the Pacific Ocean.

"He's shaken up," Briggs told her without looking, "he didn't want it to end that way."

"It had to end that way," Charlie pointed out, "from the moment the Bello suspected someone had betrayed him, someone was going to die. Either you and Mike or Eddie."

"You know that," Briggs told her, "and I know that, but I don't think Mike knew that."

"He's still thinking Quantico," Charlie realized.

Briggs nodded, "Unfortunately out here the bad guys are real and so are the bullets."

"And the drugs," Charlie added, thinking of Paige, Johnny, and Jakes.

"It's all real out here," Briggs said, "this isn't a training exercise. There are no second chances."

"He's figuring that out," Charlie remarked.

"He's a talented agent," Briggs agreed. He was still not sure why, but he felt there was something off about Mike, something that did not quite fit. Still he trusted him because that was the only way to keep everyone breathing.

"I like him," Charlie said.

"I know," he told her, "you left him a plate of sauce."

"That was for you actually," she said, "figured he wouldn't want any after the day he's had."

"You were right about that," he said.

"You left it for him to eat later didn't you?" she asked.

"I did," he confirmed.

"Do you think he'll eat it?" she asked him.

"He needs to," he replied, "he has to accept that these things happen, and we have to be able to move on."

"It's his first isn't it," Charlie said, and though it sounded like a question Briggs understood that it was not really one. She already knew the answer.

"I think so," he told her. There was a pause and then he asked. "Do you remember your first?"

"Do you?" she countered rhetorically. They both remembered. There was no way to forget something like that. The first time you see someone transform from a living breathing human being to a lifeless form, it changed you.

"I was still working in DC," he told her, "some idiot walked up to a bunch of cops at a crime scene and started waving around an semi-automatic. He fired some shots into the air. They fired some shots in to him."

"At least he was a clean kill," Charlie said.

"Doesn't make it any easier," Briggs pointed out.

"No," she agreed, "I suppose it doesn't."

"What about you?" he asked her.

"I was sixteen," she said quietly, "a friend and I were walking home from the movies one night. Some guy came up to us, mugged us, and shot her."

"I'm sorry," Briggs said putting his hand on Charlie's forearm, which was resting on the balcony railing.

"It was a long time ago," she replied.

"Not to you," he pointed out, "to you it probably feels like yesterday."

"True," she agreed.

They were silent for a long time looking out over the ocean. Finally Briggs spoke. "How do you think he's doing?" he asked.

"I think he's adjusting," she replied, "It's a big change from Quantico to Graceland, but he seems to be doing okay."

"As long as he doesn't get killed," Briggs said.

"Yeah," Charlie agreed, "as long as he doesn't get killed."

"He's not used to life or death," Briggs said, "that's his real problem right now. He doesn't expect to come that close to death."

"You remember when we were in his position?" Charlie asked with a reminiscent smile.

"You mean when we woke up everyday believe that we were entitled to live," Briggs said, "When we weren't afraid of anything, and that nearly cost us everything." Charlie nodded. "Yeah, I remember," he said.

"Me too," Charlie said quietly.

"It's not something you forget," Briggs pointed out.

"No it's not," Charlie agreed. She paused. "When was the last time you woke up, and didn't wonder, with in those first few minutes, why you were still breathing?"

He was quiet for a moment considering her question. It occurred to him to lie, to brush it off, to claim nothing like that had every happened to him, but Charlie would see right though that. She knew better. She knew him. "It's been a while," he admitted finally, "You?"

"Me too," she said. She was quiet for a minute, but then she chuckled softly.

"What's that about?" he asked, looking at her for the first time. He could not help thinking that she looked beautiful in the light of the setting sun.

"The life we chose to live," she told him, "most people would call us crazy."

"We're not most people," he reminded her.

"I know," she said. She paused for a moment. "Have you ever regretted taking this job?"

"I've been here too long for that," he told her, "If I regretted it I'd have bailed a long time ago, just like you."

Charlie recognized the truth in his words. It was strange, but even after everything she done, everything that had happened, she had never regretted taking the job. There were two kinds of people who came to Graceland. Those that thrived there and those that were gone within the first month. She and Briggs had been there the longest of anyone.

"I think Mike will do well here," Charlie decided finally. Briggs did not reply, and after a few moments of silence, she shook her head. "You don't like him," she said, "Do you?"

"I don't know yet," he countered, "He's a good agent, but something doesn't feel," he paused, searching for the correct word, "right."

Charlie watched him for a moment. "You know who he reminds me of?" she asked him.

"Who?" Briggs asked, looking out at the ocean again. He already knew what she was going to say.

"You," she replied, with a small smile, "or at least the person you were a long time ago."

Briggs sighed. "That's exactly what I'm afraid of," he told her.

_**I liked the ending…tell me what you thought…please review. **_


End file.
